Movie Review: Ticks (1993)

Synopsis: A group of troubled inner-city teenagers are taken on a wilderness retreat to try to improve their social skills. However, their retreat is quickly interrupted, and their lives are put in danger by a swarm of mutated, giant ticks seeking to suck them dry of their blood.

Who's in it? The movie stars Seth Green, Alfonso Ribeiro, Rosalind Allen, Ami Dolenz and Peter Scolari.

Review: I figured yesterday evening was as good as any to watch a horror film so, after searching through a variety of options on four streaming services, I wound up picking Ticks, solely because I was familiar with Seth Green and Alfonso Ribeiro. Based on what seemed like a fairly basic plot, I had lowered expectations watching the movie and it wound up meeting those.

As expected, the plot of the movie wasn't overly complex. There's a basic explanation about why the ticks grew to such an enormous size, a clear line between the good guys and the bad guys and no attempt to make things overly complicated. This does work in the movie's favor because it allows the film to get to the action a lot faster than many other movies. 

The ticks were also just the right size for a film like this. They were larger than average, making them more menacing. Yet, the majority of them were still reasonably small enough to have what I like to call the "creepy crawly factor." In other words, they weren't ridiculously large and there were times when I could imagine one of them on my back. It's one of the reasons I've argued in the past that large doesn't necessarily mean better.

My only real complaint about this movie was it doesn't do a good job of introducing characters in a way that makes them likable. To be fair, most weren't dislikable either, but it was one of those situations where I was almost always rooting for the ticks just because they were a lot more interesting than the people they were hunting. Honestly, the lone exception to that might have been the dog.

The movie also seemed to have some weird editing. For example, one moment Seth Green's character is climbing out of a house but then the next he's driving away in a van before he should have even had time to get in the van. It wasn't anything too big, but it made the film seem a bit choppy at times as a result.

Final Opinion: It's not a great movie, but it was an entertaining one. I'd recommend watching it as long as you aren't expecting something Oscar-worthy.

My Grade: B-